In Raleigh Monday night, the Anaheim Ducks finally got goals from where they have expected them since the off season.
Carl Hagelin scored his second of the year and added two assists in a 4-1 win over the Hurricanes.
“I talked to some of my closest friends and family members,” Hagelin said. “We all just agreed that I need to go after the puck a little bit more and do my thing, use my skating as much as possible. I came excited to this game. I wanted to prove I was a better player.”
Hagelin was brought to Anaheim to add scoring punch he evidenced while a member of the New York Rangers.
Shawn Horcoff, Sami Vatanen and Ryan Getzlaf (his first, an empty-netter) also scored for Anaheim.
“I thought we did a really good job being in on the forecheck,” Horcoff said. “Once we got it, we did a really good job hanging on to it. We really could have got a lot more than we did tonight. Hopefully that’s a good sign, and hopefully we start getting some confidence and get that going.”
Anton Khudobin had 24 saves for win over his former team in Raleigh.
“He went out and played well,” Getzlaf said. “I don’t know what that’s like to go back to an old building. I imagine it’s a little nerve-racking but he hung in there and made some great saves for us.”
For the Canes, the offense has sputtered this season leaving on the short end.
“We’ve got to keep playing,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “There’s lots of hockey left. We’ve got to find a way to score more. We need our defense involved more; that’s obvious to me. We don’t have a 5-on-5 goal from our defense. I think they skate well enough to support the rush and make us more dangerous.”
The Ducks improved to 6-8-4 with the win.
“We wanted to make a statement,” Hagelin said. “We wanted to show everyone we’re better than we’ve been. Good start, now we have to build on that.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.